RIM and Android Gain, Apple Loses in May
According to the latest figures from Millennial Media, Apple’s iPhone OS finished May with 48 percent of the market, down 14 percentage points from 62 percent in April. Meanwhile, RIM’s BlackBerry OS finished with 19 percent, up 2 points, and Google’s Android OS finished with 15 percent, up 5 points. (ClickZ)
The Good, Bad and Ugly of BP’s Online Efforts
BP has tried to utilize the Internet to mend fences with the public – that’s the good. The bad is that it isn’t doing a good job of actually distributing a message. The ugly is that BP seems unaware of how to go about executing its social media campaign. (Econsultancy)
‘Sad Keanu Reeves’ Fights Cancer
This is one of those feel-good stories of an Internet meme that actually makes a positive impact on society. “Sad Keanu Reeves” is now (inadvertently, maybe) helping in the fight against Cancer, thanks to a link shortener and Stand Up 2 Cancer. (Mashable)
14 Innovative Shopping Sites
Cheap Tweet, Groupon and My Perfect Sale are just some of the leading-edge websites that are changing the way we shop. (Mashable)
E-Mail and Social Media Are Growing Closer Together
Combine the power of e-mail with the power of social media and what do you get? More small businesses are trying to find out by tweeting e-mail newsletters, broadcasting blog entries to e-mail lists and adding sign-up forms on social media pages, according to AWeber. (eMarketer)
Quora, Google Voice Open Up
It’s an active week for unveilings, as Q-and-A site Quora and Google Voice have opened up to the masses. (CNET, Wired.com)
10 SEO Screw-Ups
Treating social media as an independent exercise, failing to plan (and planning to fail) for traffic fluctuation and lacking Robots.txt are just 10 of the more common SEO mistakes. (iMediaConnection.com)
Web Ads to Be Tailored to Your ZIP+4
Your ISP knows where you live and soon they’ll be able to profit off of that knowledge. Advertisers will have the option of targeting their ads based on your ZIP code if Juniper Networks and Feeva have their way and sell capable routers to ISPs. This solves a long-standing problem for advertisers. The kicker? Federal regulators seem to be OK with the idea. (Wired.com)
The Future of Facebook, According to Mark Zuckerberg
Inside Facebook had an in-depth interview with the CEO of Facebook. Topics included the murmurs of $1.1 billion in revenue this year (“…not so far off in either direction that it’s causing us any pain…”), Twitter (“…I think I personally just paid too much attention to it.”) and location-based products (“We want to make sure that we do it well, and we’re taking the time to do that.”). (Inside Facebook)
Rich People Are Driving the E-Commerce Recovery
Retail e-commerce didn’t tank along with the economy, but it did remain relatively flat. However, double-digit growth is expected to happen again this year, according to eMarketer, which expects the sector to reach $152 billion in 2010, a 12.7 percent increase. This will be largely driven by affluents, who are recovering quicker than the general population. (eMarketer)
Online Retailers Have a Big Blind Spot
Equipped with an ideal audience, why aren’t online retailers doing more for in-store advertising? Fears that online advertising will chip away at conversion rates and brand perception are founded on sound logic, but the likes of Amazon and Expedia have shown that relevant advertising along with the shopping experience can yield higher profits without hurting transactions. (MediaPost)
8 Social Media Bad Guys
Here’s a list of the eight most evil social media villains, including info about their appearances, favorite social settings, methods of attack and weaknesses. Among this group are trolls, disrupters and bury brigade. (Search Engine Journal)
5 Battles Between Android and iPhone
Here’s a rundown of the five battlefields for Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone: devices, sales and market penetration, carriers, operating system and apps. Read on to see who wins each arena. (InfoWorld)
Three’s the Key for Social Sharing Options in E-Mails
According to GetResponse, e-mail messages that include a social sharing option led to a 30 percent boost in click-through-rates compared to those without sharing options. Messages with three or more sharing options saw a 55 percent boost in CTRs. (PRNewswire)
Search Campaign Do’s and Don’ts
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for paid search and organic search campaigns. For example, for PPC campaigns, do try to always use the query/keyword in your ad copy (ideally in the title), but don’t launch a campaign without appropriate analytics/tracking in place. (ClickZ)
Facebook Credits: What Are the Costs?
Facebook Credits has a 30 percent flat free for all transactions that use the virtual currency, but developers are concerned that additional costs, which are yet unknown, can push this up to 50 percent of their revenue as it stands right now. Facebook’s lack of clarity on this issue is driving the fear. (Inside Facebook)
Working the Seasonality of the Market
Here are a few techniques for e-tailers who want to make sure the seasonality of the market works to their advantage. Using Google ad parameters to fit ad parameters into the “bigger picture” and leveraging those parameters to drive urgency marketing are some keys, along with utilizing long-tail strategies and ensuring high data quality, making sure to test everything at scale, using a different approach to bidding and factoring in product margin and inventory data. (Econsultancy)
Facebook to Allow Instant Ad Creation?
A German blogger unearthed a possible platform for creating instant ads on Facebook, which would make ad buying quicker and easier. A company spokesperson confirmed that Facebook is looking to simplify ad placement, which would mean a significant uptick in ad buys. (ClickZ)
Google to Unveil Paid Content System?
Reports from an Italian newspaper claim that Google is building out some sort of paid content system, and has been for almost a year. The search giant is trying to get publishers to sign up for Newspass. The offering might be trouble for others trying to set up similar platforms, but could be the broad solution that news organizations have needed. Still, paid systems require a lot of maneuvering before they are widely accepted. (MediaPost)
‘Like’ Button Targeted by Scammers
It’s not surprising, but PandaLabs is reporting the spread of scams hijacking Facebook’s “Like” buttons. Though malware isn’t involved yet, it has become an under-handed way for cyber-criminals to tricking people into visiting and recommending bogus Web pages. (WebProNews)
Building Links
Building a professional network happens in many ways and reputation is a major part of the whole process. The criteria used to determine whether someone is a credible professional can also be used to determine the desirability of a link source. (Search Engine Watch)
YouTube Working on News Experiment, Music Service
The online video giant is working on a somewhat mysterious citizen journalism platform in San Francisco, which is probably part of Google’s aim to use YouTube as a way for news organizations to boost their long-term engagement with audiences. Also, YouTube is partnering with Rumblefish, a music-licensing company, to expand their partnership. (SF Weekly, CNET)
The Cost of Reaching a Facebook User
According to Facebook’s suggested bids, users in the U.K. and U.S. are the most expensive to reach, while those in Italy and Japan are the cheapest. Older users are also more expensive age group to reach, while Facebook employees are the most expensive employee group to reach. (VentureBeat)
Yahoo Gains, AOL Loses in May’s Search Rankings
According to Nielsen, Google finished May with 65.1 percent of all U.S. searches. Yahoo! was second with 13.8 percent of searches, reflecting a 0.3 percentage point increase from April. MSN/Windows Live/Bing had 13.0 percent of all searches. AOL was fourth with 2.1 percent of the search market, down 0.4 points, while Ask.com was fifth with 2.0 percent of the market. (Nielsen)
Do You Check E-Mail or Facebook First in the Morning?
A new study from ExactTarget finds that if you check your e-mail first thing in the morning, you tend to be more task-oriented and only interact with brands online when you need something. If you check Facebook first, you might welcome “extracurricular” content from brands that isn’t directly related to a transaction. Also, more than half of online consumers in the U.S. check their e-mail before visiting other sites in the morning, while 11 percent make Facebook their first destination of the day. (Mashable)
Tablets Will Outsell Desktops by 2013
According to Forrester Research, tablet sales will overtake netbook sales by 2012, and desktop sales by 2015. As a percentage of total overall PC sales, tablets are expected to account for 21 percent to desktops’ 20 percent in 2013. The question seems to be how much market share can Apple grab and hold onto. (TechCrunch)
Targeted Ads are Creepy
Although targeted ads within a relevant context is supposed to match a given user’s interests with a message, a recent academic study reveals that some consumers can see them as creepy attempts to “peel away their privacy.” The targeted banner ad is the most effective format, increasing the likelihood that a consumer would buy what they see by 0.9 percent compared to seeing a banner ad that had no contextual connection. (AdAge.com)
10 Ways to Deal with Going Over Budget
If you’re projected to go over budget, see if you’re spending without converting or if your cost-per-lead is too high. For the latter, some of the ways to resolve the issue are sorting by CPL, adjusting keyword bids and pausing ad groups that haven’t converted. (PPC Hero)
The Beginning of a Startup Wave in NYC
“Once again, there is a renewed sense of enthusiasm about the New York City startup community.” Here’s a thorough overview of why this revival is happening and how this isn’t just a phenomenon, but the outcome of a process that begin in the early 1990s. From the start of the Big Apple, to the birth of New York banking, to the circumstances today, this is just the start of a strong wave for startups in NYC. (Business Insider)
25 Most-Liked Facebook Pages
Texas Hold’em Poker leads the list of the top 25 most-liked Facebook pages, followed by Michael Jackson, Mafia Wars, Facebook and Barack Obama. (Inside Facebook)
New York Times is Top Online Newspaper, Online News Sites Have High CPM Rates
The New York Times Brand was the top online newspaper group with 32.5 million unique visitors, with each visiting 22 pages in May. Tribune Newspapers followed behind, while Advance Internet was third, USA Today Sites was fourth and WashingtonPost.com was fifth. Online newspaper sites had an average CPM of $6.99 in April, the highest among the top display advertising site categories, according to comScore. (comScore)
Mobile Internet Stats
Here’s a nice roundup of stats concerning the mobile Internet. Among them is a forecast of more than 1 billion mobile e-mail users by 2013, a report that 20.3 million Americans watch mobile video and a projectiong that there will be 134.3 million U.S. mobile users by 2013. (Econsultancy)
Online PPC Marketing Courses
Here’s a list of 13 online PPC marketing courses that might be worth your while. Among them are the Google AdWords Certification Program ($50), the Microsoft adExcellence program ($50) and PPCblog PPC Training Program ($179 per month). (Search Engine Journal)
Twitter Users Who Follow Celebrities Have No Influence
According to Sysomos, Twitter users who follow power users like Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have very low authority figures (on a 0-10 scale). However, followers of social-media heavyweights like Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang have much higher authority scores. (Mashable)
5 Tools to Track Twitter Trends
If the little sidebar on Twitter.com doesn’t do it for you, here are five powerful tools for keeping tabs on the latest Twitter trends. They include Trendistic, Twopular and PicFog. (Mashable)
9 SEO Mistakes with Content
Just because you have content doesn’t mean it’ll do you any good. Targeting the wrong keywords and audiences, ignoring the Meta description and Title (and everything else), and duplicating your content are among the nine fatal SEO mistakes when dealing with content. (Business Insider)
Mobile Searches Will Be 20% of All Queries by 2012
According to an RBC analyst, mobile search advertising will grow to be a $2-3 billion market by 2012, when mobile searches will grow from 20 percent of all queries. Mobile searches are 9 percent of the total this year. A key advantage for advertisers on mobile screens is the bigger relative space they have to work with on mobile-device screens. (TechCrunch)
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